PATIENTS and medical staff at a Coventry surgery say they are sick of being targeted by traffic wardens.

Park House Surgery has collected hundreds of signatures calling for changes to the parking restrictions in St George’s Road, Lower Stoke.

Wardens have handed out 650 tickets there during the last two years.

However, staff said they had seen a recent spike in the number of fines.

Practice manager Debbie Taylor said: “One patient, who was not well, came back after her appointment holding a parking ticket and crying.

“Others have complained and said, ‘It’s your surgery, you pay the fine’.”

Coventry City Council introduced parking restrictions in St George’s Road in 2007 when new student accommodation was build nearby.

That meant only residents with a proper permit could park there.

After complaints from chemists and GP surgeries, the council set aside areas where people could park for up to one hour without a permit.

Special arrangements were also put in place for two GP surgeries.

That allowed patients to collect a slip from reception to display in their car window during their visit. Yet staff at Park House Surgery said parking still sparked complaints at their patient panel meetings.

Ms Taylor said: “Recently a patient queued at the window for a slip, but by the time he got back to his car he had already been given a ticket.”

Just before Christmas nurse Ruth Makunike was hit with a parking ticket after, according to the practice, the restrictions were extended.

She said: “I might as well not have come to work that day.”

Coventry City Council said there had been no changes to the parking restrictions since June 2009.

A spokesman said signs and road markings were in place to inform motorists of the restrictions.

He said traffic wardens should also wait for five minutes before issuing a ticket to give the driver sufficient time to collect a slip from the GP surgery or a visitor’s permit.

Practice bosses called a public meeting, backed by the nearby St George’s Road Surgery and a local chemist which are also affected.

Ward councillor Jim O’Boyle attended the meeting and collected a petition from the patients.

He told the Telegraph he had discovered that new attendants were recently assigned the road and had not been aware of the arrangements.

“I gave the surgery details of who to contact at parking services to get the fines rescinded, so no-one should be out of pocket,” he said.

Coun O’Boyle said he would pursue the surgery’s concerns as the residents parking scheme worked extremely well, but he felt it was equally important that patients were not adversely affected.